"There is nothing here, and there is nothing to here. What I seek is a world...one that has no spirit, and would be a perfect world. Yes...this place of nothingness is what I sought."
—Galactic Leader Cyrus, after Giratina takes him to the Distortion World
What is it with Evil Team leaders being lunged at by Legendary Pokémon?
Cyrus, the leader of Team Galactic, summons Dialga and Palkia. When Cynthia, the Champion of Sinnoh, arrives to challenge him, a third Legendary Pokémon, Giratina, appears and frees the other two Legendaries from Team Galactic's control. Giratina has plans of its own for Cyrus in the Distortion World.
This episode contains examples of the following tropes:
- Big Damn Heroes: Cynthia arrives with her Garchomp to stop Cyrus's plans, but then Giratina shows up...
- Continuity Cavalcade: The events of this episode take place at Mt. Coronet during Pokémon Platinum.
- Dark Is Not Evil: Giratina emerges from a portal from the Distortion World covered in grey sludge. However, despite its ominous appearance, it focuses on freeing its kin Dialga and Palkia from their bonds and drags Cyrus into the Distortion World as punishment for trying to destroy the world.
- Dimension Lord: The Distortion World belongs to Giratina, and it brings Cyrus to the Distortion World as punishment for messing with the fabric of reality in the normal world.
- Dragged Off to Hell: Giratina takes Cyrus to the Distortion World as punishment for trying to control Dialga and Palkia. He's pretty upbeat about the situation.
- Eldritch Abomination: Giratina, as expected, and it even appears as a shadow-looking figure in the real world.
- Eldritch Location: The Distortion World, where time and space don't function properly.
- Good Old Fisticuffs: When Giratina lunges at Cyrus after it frees Dialga and Palkia, Cynthia and her Garchomp both raise their fists like they’re ready to directly take on the god of antimatter.
- I Choose to Stay: Cyrus at the end of the episode.
- Monster Roommate: Cyrus is content with remaining in the Distortion World alongside Giratina.
- Nerves of Steel: Cyrus has no reaction to Giratina jumping at him while everyone else is extremely startled.
- Physical God: Dialga and Palkia, the masters of time and space, respectively. When bound by Cyrus, Giratina appears to free them, who itself is the Physical God of the Distortion World and the embodiment of antimatter.
- The Stoic: The most you see out of Cyrus is a slight grin. He also isn't fazed one bit by Giratina lunging at him or waking up in the Distortion World.
- Tragic Villain: Cyrus is content to remain in the Distortion World as he believes it is the perfect world he sought for. The tragedy is he is all alone in a world that doesn't follow logic, and he will have the company of Giratina staring at him for all of time.
- Trapped in Another World: Cyrus wakes up in the Distortion World after being stopped by Giratina. He decides to stay there and tells Team Galactic not to look for him.
- Unishment: To any ordinary person, being dragged into the Distortion World might as well be like getting dragged into Hell. To Cyrus, the place is precisely the kind of world he wanted.
- Unusually Uninteresting Sight: Cyrus responds to the Pokémon equivalent of Satan ruining his plans by lightly scolding it like a misbehaving toddler.
- Utopia: Cyrus concludes the Distortion World is the perfect world he always wanted to create and informs Team Galactic to not look for him.
